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PECMH vote Jan. 29

Luke Hendry/The Intelligencer
Ambulances wait outside Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital in Picton. The South East Local Health Integration Network board is expected later this month to approve the first phase of the plan to build a new hospital behind the existing one.

The new Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital could open as early as January 2025 and its first stage is expected to receive Local Health Integration Network approval this month, The Intelligencer has learned.

South East LHIN directors will vote on the first-stage proposal of the project’s capital plan at their regular meeting Jan. 29 in Belleville.

The current hospital has 12 to 14 inpatient beds, depending on funding, Quinte Health Care vice-president and chief financial officer Brad Harrington said. The new one is planned to have 17 beds, he said, noting officials of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care are aware of that plan.

“That’s what the ministry has reviewed.”

Stage 1 of the capital development process covers the scope of services, location and other early details. The corporation’s board has approved building behind the current hospital, but the LHIN and ministry must also approve the location.

“We’re anticipating in a few weeks that we’ll hopefully get a positive outcome,” he said.

The two-part Stage 2 involves the project’s functional program. Harrington said it is “really the heart of the planning.

“It’s a full set of plans for what the hospital would look like … It gets into all of the detail of planning for the facility, right down to room size.

“It would take us about 10 to 12 months.”

A team of local clinicians and health professionals will work with architects, engineers, programmers and more, he said, and the process will cost about $375,000.

For that reason, said Harrington, staff must wait until the province approves the first stage before any significant work on the second stage can begin.

He said the project is “very much” on track.

“All of the correspondence we’ve had with the province has been positive.

“The LHIN has provided huge support.

“We’re very excited and optimistic to proceed to the next step.”

“The LHIN and QHC fully understand the importance” of a new hospital and of Quinte Health Care maintaining all four of its hospitals. The others are in Belleville, Trenton and Bancroft.

“There’s a definitive need for a new hospital in the county,” Harrington said, explaining plans should continue even if a new government takes power in June’s provincial election.

Should the LHIN board approve the first stage, it will be forwarded to the ministry for final approval of that stage.

There are five stages in the capital planning process. Stage 3 involves preliminary design, while Stage 4 results in working drawings. The fifth covers the tender process and awarding of the construction contract.